Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: NHL-Teams

In a Maple Leafs dressing room too often stuffed with inflated egos, personal agendas and a greater concern for personal stats rather than the overall standings, the arrivals of Mike Babcock and, now, Lou Lamoriello, are a sobering reality check for all concerned.

In being introduced as the 16th general manager in Maple Leafs history on Thursday, Lamoriello was candidly clear about that as he stated his mandate in this, his new hockey home.

He doesn’t care about how many points you accrue. He couldn’t give a rat’s rump over how many individual awards are shoe-horned into your trophy case. If you aren’t contributing to the greater good of the team, there really isn’t any room for you.

As an analogy, Lamoriello, 72, compared the makeup of a hockey team to that of a successful symphony orchestra.

“It’s all about music,” he said. “If the music isn’t good, no matter how good each and every instrument is, everybody leaves.”

In a sentence nobody ever expected to read, Lou Lamoriello is now the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like Dave Nonis before him, he says he has autonomy; like Nonis before him, the final vision and decisions rest with team president Brendan Shanahan. Lamiorello drafted Shanahan as an 18-year-old in 1987. This will be a different thing, for both of them.

“He’s much more nimble than people think. He’s much more flexible than people think,” Shanahan said. “I’m not afraid of very talented, strong-willed individuals. I actually think it’s an asset to have that in the organization. I think as long as the leadership is right, it can work.

“I just don’t see the logic in saying, just hire less competent people because they’re more likely to get along. I want winners. Winners know how to adapt to win. Will it be a challenge? Yeah, sure. It’s a challenge to have a great hockey team. It’s not easy to have a team full of superstars.”

Shanahan was criticized by some for moving too slowly; maybe now he will be criticized for doing too much. But he has assembled a fascinating array of strong voices for the Leafs, and it’s up to him to manage them.

If you are going to sweep out the country-club atmosphere, as Shanahan and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Tim Leiweke promised, along with a lot of their predecessors, then there are no better people to do it than Lamoriello and Babcock. Both have definitive Type A personalities, both are demanding taskmasters and brook no nonsense.

When Lamoriello was asked about potential changes, he said change will come only if he decides it’s necessary after examining the organization. Then he said this: “The one thing that fundamentally will not change … is the word accountability.”

That was followed by something anyone who ever played for the Devils during Lamoriello’s 28 years that saw 21 playoff appearances, five conference championships and three Stanley Cups had heard many times. The kind of player he wants are those “willing to give up their own identity for that logo and never [mix] what’s on the back of the jersey for what’s on the front.”

Lamoriello, 72, also represents the missing piece of the picture Shanahan has been painting since he took the first year of his tenure to sit back and study this dysfunctional franchise. He is as old school as it gets, demanding shirts and ties at all times of team employees, but he is also one of the most respected men in the NHL. A long list of hockey people cite him as their primary mentor, from Shanahan to former Leafs GM Brian Burke and former Leafs head coach Ron Wilson, who both played for him at Providence College. There is no one in the NHL from commissioner Gary Bettman down who dares not to take Lamoriello’s calls.

Lamoriello should be applauded for what he did in his 28 years with the Devils, including five trips to the Stanley Cup Final, but he paved his own way out the door once ownership changed.

Here's why:

1. He stonewalled upper management's marketing attempts

As long as he was winning Stanley Cups and has past owners' support, Lamoriello was allowed to refuse attempts to market the team through use of players, fan events and alternate jerseys. However, once the team became an also-ran four out of the last five seasons and dollars-conscious owners moved in, he was a roadblock.

Ownership tried to ease Lamoriello into the modern world, but he fought it and continued to keep practices closed, argued against marketing ideas and even handcuffed the organization's own website from covering the team more extensively.

2. Stumbled as a general manager

Age wasn't the reason Lamoriello was nudged out as GM. It was because he seemed to lose his touch. His recent track record of free agent signings was not good, signing several players for more than they were worth. He also created roster situations that hamstrung coaches like John MacLean.

Alexander Semin will not be a free agent much longer, according to his agent Mark Gandler.

“We have offers,” he said in an interview with Sovsport.ru. “We are reviewing them, but have not yet made a decision.”

While he did not give any hints as to where those offers might be, he confirmed Semin is only considering options in the NHL and is not interested in returning to Russia any time soon.

“Sasha Semin is 31 years old. He still has a number of years ahead of him,” Gandler said when asked about the likes of Alexei Yashin and Ilya Bryzgalov whose buyouts essentially ended their NHL careers.

“[Semin’s] career can only go up. He is still young. His buyout was under unique circumstances and the (Hurricanes) coach did not understand Sasha’s game.”

GLENDALE, ARIZONA --- The Arizona Coyotes and the City of Glendale announced today that the two parties have agreed on a resolution to their ongoing legal dispute. The City of Glendale will release details of the proposed amendments to the existing arena management agreement this morning on the city’s website, http://www.glendaleaz.com/. The Glendale City Council will vote on the amendments to the agreement on Friday, July 24 at Glendale City Hall. Details of that city council meeting are also posted on the city website.

Brendan Shanahan, President and Alternate Governor of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced today that Lou Lamoriello has been named the 16th General Manager in the Club’s history. Lamoriello joins the Leafs after previously spending the last 28 years in the New Jersey Devils organization.